he shook hands before leaving his vacation in hawaii. he has important talks scheduled to avert the fiscal cliff. >>> as we showed you, the senate is back in session. they are hoping to strike a deal and avoid the fiscal cliff. we are in washington where some republicans are pessimistic an agreement can be reached. >> reporter: the senate majority leader is on the floor right now. we will take a live look at the capitol. he is trying to get republican support for the latest democratic plan. they got back to work about 15 minutes ago and are considering the president's offer to raise taxes on households making $400,000 or more a year. even if it passes the senate he is concerned about the house where he will need about 30 republicans to cross party lines. the house speaker said he is not making members of the house come back from their break without a 48 hour notice on a vote. in the last -- >> american people i don't think understand the house is operating without the house of house. its being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker.